Expedition Log: August
12, 2001

David
Koester

St. George Island,
Pribilofs

David Koester

Our entrance to the Pribilof
Islands showed us why so many people have sought to capture
these islands in visual images and how the fur seals have
been at the center of everyone's interest. At evening recap,
Kes Woodward told us that perhaps the best watercolorist of
the 19th century to work in Alaska, Henry Wood Elliott, was
officially special agent for the U.S. Treasury in charge of
fur seal production. Elliott was a powerful advocate for fur
seal protection and Kes explained that his images played a
critical role in the effectiveness of his advocacy. Bob Peck
told us that George Bird Grinnell came along with the
Harriman Expedition and equally became a champion of fur
seal conservation. Eleven years after the Harriman
Expedition, ethnologist Vladimir Jochelson arrived in the
Pribilof Islands on an expedition that was in many ways a
follow up to both the Harriman Expedition and the Jesup
North Pacific Expedition in which Jochelson had participated
in 1901. On St. George he filmed the harvesting of fur seals
-- probably the first motion picture footage ever recorded
in the Aleutians/Western Alaska. Jochelson went on to
complete an extensive study of Aleut traditional culture.
The footage is now lost--probably in a Russian museum
archive somewhere -- but the reasons he chose to film at the
rookeries were obvious to us all.

The day began with a long walk
for many, high in the hills, deep in the fog. The hikers
were in search of the red legged kittiwake and the
thick-billed murre and found them both. Others took the
opportunity for a morning visit to either the fur seal plant
or the Orthodox Church. Later in the evening the priest
would thank visitors for coming to his service.

Passengers
who participated in the long hike for bird
watching. (Photo by National Ocean Service,
NOAA).Click
image for a larger view.

I went off for an intense
morning of driftwood collection at a cove known as Starry
Arteel (Americanized spelling of the Russian, Staryi Artil).
A good dirt road wound down from the main road to a
north-facing, slightly curved rock beach. At the top of the
beach, the driftwood line gave way to a depression that
contained a small lake. Gulls occasionally landed on the
lake, but most of the activity was on the rookery and the
cliffs above. Seals and porpoises leapt by in front of me as
the wind whipped fog in a giant arc over the hillside
behind. Along the primary driftline, long red and yellow
cedars lay mixed among a large amount of milled wood and a
variety of species that remain to be identified.

Starry Arteel
(Staryi Artil) cove where David Koester collected
driftwood. (Photo by David
Koester).Click
image for a larger view.

After a lunch back on board, two groups returned
for the seal plant tour. Our St. George tour coordinators had promised
us a demonstration of deblubbering of the seal skin. As we entered the
plant, we saw the huge wooden vats in which the skins were first washed.
The remains of the tram system by which the skins were moved into the
blubber removal room hung overhead. Curved blubber boards about 4 feet
long were angled to waist height and lined up in a row. At the far end
of the row we witnessed a skin in preparation. One skilled and careful
smooth stroke with a two-handled, curved, blunt scraper cleared a six-inch
swath of blubber and meat. Ten or fifteen strokes later the skin needed
only final touch up. From there, skins were put in huge vats filled with
brine and soaked overnight before being stacked in shipping containers.
They were shipped to a company in St. Louis and up until 1972 distributed
to fur seal treaty countries, including Canada and Japan.

After the tour I wanted to get
in a run and see something of the general landscape. I
learned something of an Aleutian lesson. The wind was fierce
going up the hill to the center of the island and the fog
thickened as I approached the top. I would have done well to
have dressed more warmly and to have planned a little more
time for the slow slog against the wind. The view along the
road was limited but filled with wonderful, lush greens and
wildflowers.

Main street
in St. George, whitebuilding in front is the one
hotel on the island. (Photo by National Ocean
Service, NOAA).Click
image for a larger view.

We had our first opportunity for
a close look at northern fur seals at a blind at the rookery
just a mile from town and I stopped on the way back to the
boat landing. The pups, now the size of small dogs, move
even more awkwardly about the rocks than their elders. Brief
territorial flare-ups punctuated the slow undulating motion
and sleeping stillness. I wondered if seal life consisted
just of feeding, lying still and occasional aggressive
encounters.

Back on the ship we had dinner with guests from
St. George. Viktor Malavansky told my table about the dark past of the
WWII evacuations, about growing up on St. George, about educational opportunities
and about his plans for the future. He wants to remain on the island,
but the limited employment opportunities, the difficulty of communication
and travel, and the high cost of living are causing him to look at other
options.

Several visitors were given or
obtained a photocopy of a document distributed by the
Orthodox church titled, The Church of St. George the
Victorious. It contained the following account of recent
St. George and Pribilof history.

After the Russians,
the same curious blend of near serfdom and cash income
continued . From 1869, the U.S. began to administer
the fur seal harvest for the benefit of the federal
treasury. U.S. field agents exerted total control over
the lives of the Pribilovians. The Pribilof Aleuts'
living quarters, education plans, travel arrangements,
even marriages, had to be approved by government agents.
The use of the Aleut language was forbidden, except in
church services. Housing was provided and so was food,
but it was strictly rationed and selected by the
government. This payment in kind was supplemented by a
cash (or credit to each sealer) based on his work and his
place in the household; in 1946, the average share income
per sealer was $502, 60% below an industrial worker of
the time

World War II started a revolution for the
Pribilovians. The internment of these Aleuts in June 1942 had drastic
human toll, but it ended the total isolation of the islanders. They
learned of the recourse available to them and began to seek redress
of their grievances against the U.S. government. Between 1950 and 1966
there were significant changes in the pay arrangements and status of
the Aleuts, resulting by 1966 in their full status as civil servants
with all benefits, including retirement. In 1973, by international
convention, the harvesting of seals was halted at St. George.

Despite the economic loss from the cessation
of commercial sealing, most villagers have remained in St. George some
making a living from fishing.